Published: August 04, 2009 06:37 pm      

Murray teacher Bishop 'one of the best of the best'

Pam Bishop says all children are interested in science — they just need teachers who will encourage them to keep learning.

“Who as a child has never wondered about the dynamics of a rainbow or pondered the petals of a flower?” she said. “A young child is curious about the world and why it behaves as it does.”

That philosophy is part of what helped the Murray County science lab teacher who alternates between Chatsworth and Coker elementary schools get selected to attend the 2009 Mickelson ExxonMobile Teachers Academy at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J., July 19-24. Only 600 of the 1,600 teachers across the United States who applied were selected. The trips were all-expenses-paid.

Attendees spent the week learning various teaching techniques, practicing science experiments to use in their classrooms and networking. The Academy was sponsored by professional golfer Phil Mickelson and the ExxonMobile oil and gasoline company. A panel of educators from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Science Teachers Association selected the applicants based on their qualifications, dedication to inspiring students at an early age and overall commitment to enhancing the teaching profession, according to a press release from the Academy.

Murray County Schools curriculum director Cheryl Thomasson said she is a former science teacher and has known Bishop for some time.

“I just recognize her as being one of the best of the best professionally,” Thomasson said. “When it comes to science, she’s my go-to person.”

Bishop has helped design curriculum for Murray County schools and regularly collaborates with teachers to design new ways to engage students. She has received several teaching awards including a Model Classroom Teacher National Accelerated Reader Award and North Georgia Mountains Youth Science and Technology Teacher of the Year in 2004, and several nominations as teacher of the year at Chatsworth Elementary School.

Thomasson said Bishop’s trip was a personal honor for her, but the lessons she learned will be shared throughout the district.

“In that sense, it’s going to help everybody,” she said.

Bishop is one of three elementary science lab teachers in the Murray system who are on seven-week rotations between schools. She said she lectures rather than using textbooks and demands students’ attention with her hands-on, minds-on activities.

Participants at the Academy did five to 10 science experiments every day, she said, and were also given an opportunity to sightsee on their own time. Bishop said she saw Ellis Island, Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty. She said she was one of the lucky few who got two ball caps signed by Mickelson, probably because they featured Callaway, his sponsor.

“I was just lucky enough to have found two at New York City Golf the night before,” she said.

She’ll get to nominate three teachers from anywhere in Georgia to attend the Academy next year. This was her first trip to the area, she said.

“It was almost more than I could comprehend,” she said. “I have so much in my head.”